Mike D-H,

Hi there! Already I’m reading your response to the Betsy Riot as far more stable and rational than what I’ve seen from most people who take issue with us. That isn’t a moot point either; what we are dealing with are legions of violent, trigger-happy individuals on all points of the political scale. They don’t appreciate it when people begin to challenge them on their (false) sense of what they are entitled to, such as the “right” to threaten someone with a deadly weapon should they disagree with the proliferation of deadly weapons. This leads into my next point.

You asked what the movement is aiming to do, which is an excellent question. The Betsy Riot aims to change the culture of gun possession and use. We’re hoping to not just antagonize the industry- which has already been attacking us on a grassroots level, as per their initial provocation, for years- but to also reach moderates and those who are fairly neutral on the issue, but know that they do not want to see more violence. What national gun violence prevention groups often miss, and why they do not seem to be very effective, is that they will fight in the legislature for “common sense” gun laws and regulations, but will never agree to couple that with any change to the culture. What happens when organizations call for “common sense” laws is that the general electorate forgets the fact that thousands of men, women, and children dying of preventable causes every year in the U.S. is NOT normal, and it is not considered normal anywhere else in the world. We forget that the NRA is truly the enemy- they are ones who supply the weapons- yet we pin the problem entirely on “lone wolves,” the mentally ill, and (nonwhite) terrorists. The common denominator in all mass shootings, gun suicides, hostage situations, at-home in-family shootings, etc. is the presence of guns. The gun lobby preys on the ignorance of those it supplies to, whispering sweet nothings about the Second Amendment, the duties and abilities of the President, and hero narratives about “good guys with guns.” They want to continue selling their devilishly popular products, so they don’t mind that people in all communities in America continue to die because of them.

What I tend to focus on the most in my activism is that the gun lobby, and the NRA itself, do not have a claim to patriotism. I can- and do- love my country and also HATE guns at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive. The problem with trying to talk to the head organizations that manufacture guns, lobby for the proliferation of guns, and spread gun culture is that they have weapons on their side, and we don’t. That’s kind of the entire point. We’re not scared of them, but it’s going to require a change in public opinion for mass gun violence to end.

As for the currency issue- bills can be written on as long as they are not rendered unusable. I would be baffled if someone were to argue that writing in the margins of a $20 makes the value of the bill indiscernible, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard something so ridiculous from a gun nut.

Thanks again for your measured response, and please enjoy being 17!

-Betsy Schism 
“How many lone wolves do we have to see before we realize there’s a pack?”